8 Useful Websites for Web Design Inspiration

Every website has it’s individual purpose, which makes every web design project unique in some way. Sure there are some core principles but designing a corporate website for a financial institute is going to be remarkably different to designing a

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Every website has it’s individual purpose, which makes every web design project unique in some way. Sure there are some core principles but designing a corporate website for a financial institute is going to be remarkably different to designing a website for a 3 day music festival.

As more complex and detailed templates enter the web design ecosystem, it becomes consistently more difficult to challenge users and create a memorable online experience. However, there are some curated collections that demonstrate ways to challenge conventional thinking and cut through the noise.

Below I’ve compiled a list of websites I find useful to inspire my creativity for any web project I’m working on. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful in your next project too.

Awwwards is the site I use the most for inspiration. Their collection always has a wide variety of sites which really challenge the conventional mould of a website, it’s easy to navigate and has useful search filters. Much like a number of sites in this list, there is a directory of the designer/design teams who worked on each listed site and you can filter their personal submissions to the site.

Site Inspire has some great listings but they lack the community scoring system that Awwwards and many other sites. However, it has a snappy and very simple interface which makes browsing inspiration easy.

What makes Site Bureau worthwhile is it’s quality content fused with it’s offering of templates. The templates are placed within the gallery of sites, however, they are of a high enough grade that it’s easy to look at them for inspiration in their own right. If you can blend inspiration you’ve found in their gallery using the templates they offer as a starting point then you’ve saved yourself twice the time.

What some of the other sites lack is personality in their own design letting the listed work speak. Well CSS Design Awards practice what they preach with a vibrant, memorable site which could be used for inspiration in itself. With the scoring system much like Awwwards, it doesn’t have the same directory capabilities for design teams.

The Webby Awards are probably the most well known brand as far as web design awards (if you remember Kanye’s 5 word thank you speech for the 2016 Artist of the Year) and their website reflects this aesthetically. Unfortunately, for all the premium content, the UI is difficult to navigate and I couldn’t find a way to swap between designs quickly. Speed kills when you’re researching a project and The Webby Awards doesn’t really accomodate for this.

Httpster is a site I’ve only recently stumbled across but I find it to be he most aesthetically pleasing of the bunch. They put the fun in functional without going overboard. You won’t find a directory or a scoring system here, but what you will find is quality content with a simple to use interface.

CSS Nectar has a few gems you might not find on other sites but I’ve found the quality of the curation isn’t quite on the same level as Awwwards and Httpster. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can still find something to trigger your creativity.

One Page Love really is exactly as you expect, a curation of the best one page websites on the web. These are a great source of reference for when you are designing landing pages, experimental sites, small event sites or even just for clients that have a smaller budget but are looking to still have a presence online.